Sci-Fi Structures Found on Earth Get Transported to Alien World

Apicultural Manufactory, Alpha, from the series 'Areth - An Architectural Atlas'

Nodal Residence, Xi, from the series 'Areth - An Architectural Atlas'

Atmospheric Observation Outpost, Omicron, from the series 'Areth - An Architectural Atlas'

Generational Aggregation, Gamma, from the series 'Areth - An Architectural Atlas'

Fabrication Facility, Phi, from the series 'Areth - An Architectural Atlas'

Botanical Archive, Beta, from the series 'Areth - An Architectural Atlas'

Field Emitter, Epsilon, from the series 'Areth - An Architectural Atlas'

Cultural Conventicle, Kappa, from the series 'Areth - An Architectural Atlas'

Hydration Tower, Heta, from the series 'Areth - An Architectural Atlas'

Adjudication Center, Sigma, from the series 'Areth - An Architectural Atlas'

Wall Of El Jiah, from the series 'Selections from the Joint Photographic Survey'

Monastic Retreat At Betharbel, from the series 'Selections from the Joint Photographic Survey'

Ramas Temple At Anathoth, from the series 'Selections from the Joint Photographic Survey'

Selucian Retreat At Succoth, from the series 'Selections from the Joint Photographic Survey'

Giladean Cave Tomb Of Argob, from the series 'Selections from the Joint Photographic Survey'

Gyptic Hill Tomb Of Thuvos, from the series 'Selections from the Joint Photographic Survey'

Narathean Temple, from the series 'Selections from the Joint Photographic Survey'

Ruins Of Jalad At Edrei, from the series 'Selections from the Joint Photographic Survey'

Tower Of The Rock, from the series 'Selections from the Joint Photographic Survey'

Sea Temple, from the series 'Selections from the Joint Photographic Survey'

Temple City Of Haraam, from the series 'Selections from the Joint Photographic Survey'

We demand and expect fictional worlds in movies, so why do they cause us to stumble when grafted into the still image? Partly it’s because of our persistent and false characterization of photography as a truthful medium, despite Photoshop, a long history of manipulation and even an international exhibition of manipulated photography.

“Photography’s co-option by empirical systems is definitely of interest to me,” says Ryder. “I’m trying to use photography to recontextualize the built environment. The ability to reframe and give new meaning to things is photography’s best attribute as a medium.”

For his Areth project, Ryder, who’s always had a keen interest in sci-fi movies and novels, relocates existing earthly structures in a fictional world. He first made photographs for it by traveling across the United States and then publishing an “expedition” report. By contrast, for Survey, Ryder scanned antique photographs from the Library Of Congress and manipulated them to create an archive of a time and place that never existed, but isn’t entirely implausible either.

“Both Areth and Survey ask the viewer to re-imagine the known as the unknown,” he says, “And hopefully invite viewers to use their own perspective for creative re-imagination of their environment.” Areth, part of Ryder’s MFA thesis (2010-11), was a challenge to academic practice. It’s an attempt to legitimize Science Fiction within the realms of scholastic thought by discussing the feedback loop between Science Fiction cinema and the more outré elements of architectural design.

Despite the visual game he proposes, Ryder never wants to dupe viewers. Instead he wants to reward those with the keenest eye.

“I have an aversion to out-and-out trickery of the audience,” says Ryder. “I make images for people to scrutinize, as I myself scrutinize photographs. The work yields the most to those who pay close attention, not necessarily to people who are especially sophisticated.”

The raw materials for Survey are prints in the Matson Photograph Collection, a sprawling archive of over 22,000 images in the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs division. They include shots from Elijah Meyers, a member of the American Colony, a Christian utopian settlement in Jerusalem in the early 19th Century — work that was continued by Hol Lars Larsson and G. Eric Matson who formalized the documenting of the Middle East and British territories.

Ryder says the composites made from these images are intentionally “imperfect” to tip viewers off to the fiction.

“Truth is something that is spectral rather than absolute,” he says. “Ultimately, photographs are the results of human decisions. Even the ‘robot-eye’ of security cameras frame events occurring within a specific place from a perspective that is informed by ideas of truth that have a cultural basis.”